With Fall barreling through like a freight train, you’ll start to notice more and more pests running amok around your home. One example of these pests are moths, as they’ll start to fly around more when they sense that cold weather is coming in.

Moths are notorious for eating old clothes stored away in a closet, and the dreadful scent of Grandma’s mothballs have sure made a nasty imprint on your memory. While you’re about to pull out that cozy sweater or coat, the last thing you want to see are holes and moth larvae in your favorite fall outfit. We’ll compiled a couple ways to keep the moths from chowing down on your closet…without the pungent odor of mothballs, of course.

Moths love to breed and lay eggs in the dark (ironic since they love to fly around artificial light), which makes your closet an ideal breeding ground. While it would be effective to keep a bright light on at all times in your closet, it’s impractical. Try instead to lay out cedar in your closet, as for some reason moths can’t stomach the scent (like us with mothballs). The cedar should be in either block form or in a bag, as that’ll give off the strongest scent to repel moths (and give your clothes a rustic, fall scent!).

Also as a general rule, keep your home exterior closed with any cracks in the foundation or weather stripping filled, and keep your closet clean. Vacuum it regularly, inspect your clothes bi-weekly, and make sure that your fall attire does not have any moths in it.

If by any unlucky chance it does, it’s paramount that you stop the infestation before it spreads. If the clothes are still in good condition, vaccuum up all the eggs and larvae you see, fire up that washing machine to it’s highest heat setting, and iron your clothes when finished. That should be enough to kill off any remnants of moths left. At that point, you also want to check out the rest of your closet, and repeat that process if you find anymore moths. If you don’t see anymore, lay out some more cedar and contact Tri-County Pest Control for assured removal of any moths that could still be hiding. We’d love nothing more than to keep your favorite striped sweater safe from the grubby antennae of moths.